PUT YOURSELF IN A BOX!!
Creative Advice JUNE 18th, 2025
No one likes to be put in a box.
but every painting looks better in a frame
In Track races, we call it getting boxed in when you get stuck behind someone, and people are passing you on the outside; it's inherently a bad thing
In the business world, people always complain about how they're put into a specific box and they're trying to break out
In the creative world, people always say, “Think outside of the box.”
Here I am telling you Get yourself into a damn box already.
TRUST ME!
Let's do a little thought experiment:
I want you to come up with a REALLY creative idea:
Ready GO!
.
.
.
That was pretty hard, right?
Now let’s try this;
Im shooting a video where I interview a famous runner; come up with some creative questions and creative ways to ask those questions for an Instagram reel?
.
.
.
A bit easier, right?
WHY?
Because I gave you a box to play in
“Whom the gods wish to destroy, they give unlimited resources.
-Twyla Tharp, American choreographer
When I’m not feeling creative, the first thing I do is take away resources from myself
OK, let's take these photos, but you have to shoot every photo between your legs.
OK, let's try this drawing again, but you can only use straight lines
OK, I can only use this brush on Procreate
Ok, I get 15 shapes to fill this page asthetically
Because, the less I have, the more I make.
Creatives are rebelois by nature, if you limit us we create more:
And I’m not the first to figure that out.
As Orson Welles said:
“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.”
Heres where this becomes EXTRA important:
We're in a world where you can do ANYTHING:
AI makes the barrier to entry SO LOW.
Instagram makes the ability to reach Anyone possible
Technology is getting easier
Everyone is becoming creative
You can do anything, and you can be great at everything:
But if you have no restraints, you will sit in decision paralysis and do nothing
You know how many 5 - 9 artists quit their day job, make art their 9 - 5, and then end up making less work rather than more.
Art directors' Whole Job is making boxes for their creative team
Boxes are good
I'll end this with the first lesson of my drawing 201 class.
It's day 1 of drawing 201
The classroom is full of students, with the drawing desks making a circle around the room with the professor in the middle
The class is mainly nervous art majors taking their second drawing class, but a few talented artists retaking a drawing class more as an independent study sit amongst the crowd
As class begins, my professor stood on the box in the middle of the room and told everyone to get out their charcoal stick and drawing pad
Then she proclaimed loudly Draw!
*** Nobody moved
After a few awkward moments, a few people began sketching the room in front of them or a face or something basic
After a few minutes of pretty bad drawings, she proclaims loudly again
STOP. Next page, draw a shoe
***Instantly, you hear the sound of charcoal scratching the paper
After a few minutes of decent shoe drawings, she proclaims loudly again
STOP. Next page, draw a shoe again, but only use dots
After about 5 minutes, we all walked around and looked at everyone's 3 drawings
The dot drawings were fucking sick.
Some people used stippling, some people drew overlapping circles. Some people would put dots down and then smudge them with their fingers to get shading. Some were abstract. Some were realistic. Some people drew the word “Shoe” One person even drew the animal a Shrew, one person only used lines.
If you're ever feeling stuck.
PUT
YOURSELF
IN
A
BOX
Professionally boxed in,
Zach Litoff
June 18th 2025